350 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



Mr. SELKE. That doesn't solve the problem for the others in the 

 valley. 



Mrs. RALPH CURTIS SMITH. We have a problem that I would ap- 

 preciate some information on. We have a well-established retail 

 coal company in the city, right in the center of the city. We have a 

 great deal of coal-dust that emanates from this coal plant. What 

 kind of wetting compound is there that is practical? 



Mr. COLLINS. I can say that the wetting of coal dust is a very 

 difficult problem. Chemical wetting agents are available but ex- 

 pensive and not very efficient. Probably the best way of dealing 

 with the dust nuisance is to have adequate water sprays as near to 

 the source of the dust as possible. 



DAVTD BROWER. I think we are concerned quite a bit about the 

 efficiency of coal mining, because we would rather see, for example, 

 coal used for power than dams in Grand Canyon. But we are also 

 mindful of the kind of reclamation that took place in some of our 

 own California land, where a century ago, we took the gold out. 

 The only way we reclaimed the spoil piles was to expand suburbia 

 over them, beyond Sacramento, toward the Sierra Nevada. 



In this kind of struggle, there is a mining operation that goes on in 

 our redwood country. The soil slips down in the canyons. There is 

 no reclamation yet attempted there. 



We wonder sometimes what chance there is to tell the public 

 what its choice is before the step is made. Before we take red- 

 woods off the slope and let the slope deteriorate, how much more 

 would we have to pay for the redwood in order to have a good slope 

 left? Before we go ahead and disrupt a piece of land with strip 

 mining for coal, how much more would we have to pay per kilowatt- 

 hour of energy, if it is going into power? How much would we have 

 to pay for a pound of steel going into the heavy machinery needed 

 to put the soil back where we can and replant on it according to the 

 best instructions of Mr. Netting? 



The public often doesn't get the choice to leave the land unspoiled 

 and pay the extra cost for mining. Where we do mine, should we 

 restore and put that in the price, or should we just let it lie and have 

 it as a perpetual and long-lasting eyesore? I think this panel should 

 recommend something about this, to make sure the public sees what 

 the choices are. 



